Touch and Go...

Taking a 48-hour break from hunting to come home and play daddy.  Modern firearm elk season always seems to coincide with Halloween, with the result being I have not been involved with taking my kids Trick-or-Treating for 4 years.  Halloween is a tough day to miss, because it is one of the few days when your kids are ALWAYS going to smile.  How often do you have that guarantee?

There is certainly no guarantee with hunting, which is why it is called hunting, and not killing.  In two and half days of elk hunting, I had seen about 6 cows, which is more than some of fellow hunters had seen, and less than others.  Only one guy had seen a spike, and that was at about 800 yards and opening with a group of 12-13 cows. 

Without going into to too much detail...I am frustrated.  I have been going out of my way this hunting season to Do the Right Thing...walk further and deeper into the bush than my fellow hunters.  From driving by various other camps, I would guess the group I go hunting with is fairly typical. Roughly 50% of the guys I hunt with are not as into the hunting as they are into drinking beer and complaining about their 'Old Ladies'.  Since I have zero grounds for complaints about my wife(she is certainly no 'Old Lady'), I am looking to bring home some meat.  Between guns, ammo, tags, and camping costs, it's too expensive of a hobby not to take seriously. 

An example of my frustration: Sunday afternoon, a few of us where working a series of ridges where our friend Dave had reported seeing his spike.  Shortly after 3, one of my friends heard a jeep driving up the road, which was just one ridge away.  About 120 yards past his position, it stopped.  He said he almost pooped his pants when the gun fired.  These two guys driving by in their jeep has killed the spike we had been looking for about 70 yards off the road.

Grrrrrr.

Still, it's hard to be all that frustrated when you can eat your morning pop-tart looking at this:

Mission accomplished by supporting Halloween, I decided to save my leave balance by working Tuesday and Wednesday, before heading back up to the hills Wednesday night.  I will then hunt Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning before we break camp.  

Work was tough today, and it will be even tougher tomorrow.  Even a rainy day up in the mountains has it's bright side.  I might not write about hunting as well as Brigid, but luckily, a picture is worth a thousand words.